Johnny Depp rocking out with Alice Cooper and Keith

David Konow, 30th October 2011

We recently ran a piece about Dark Shadows, the big screen version of the classic horror soap opera directed by none other than Tim Burton.

Johnny Depp, who’s starred in many of Burton’s films, is playing head vampire Barnabas Collins, and right as his next album was unleashed, the news hit that Alice Cooper will make a cameo in Dark Shadows, which also stars Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jackie Earle Haley, Christopher Lee, and the original Barnabas Collins from the show Jonathan Frid.

The film also reportedly takes place in 1972, making this current version of Dark Shadows modern retro.

According to Blabbermouth, Alice will be playing himself, performing at a shindig at the castle.

Of course, Cooper has done a bit of acting in the past, and growing up my mind was blown by his Welcome to My Nightmare TV special, which brought his classic album to life and guest starred Vincent Price, as well as his appearance on The Muppet Show.

Cooper also just released the sequel to the Nightmare album, which brings back his long time producer Bob Ezrin, who helmed his classic ‘70’s albums, and also produced Pink Floyd’s The Wall. (Also back on board is guitarist Steve Hunter, who played on Nightmare, and also backed up Lou Reed on the classic live version of Sweet Jane).

Depp, as many of us know, started out as a musician, and through the Pirates of the Caribbean films he became friends with one of the coolest bad boys of rock, Keith Richards. In the space of a week, Depp jammed with Richards at the premiere party of The Rum Diary, playing Key to the Highway, and earlier in the week he also jammed with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top at the Austin Film Festival.